As Hurricane Beryl moved ashore on Monday, it pummeled Texas with high gusts and pouring rain, closing oil ports, canceling hundreds of flights, and knocking out electricity to about two million homes and businesses.
Early in the day, Beryl, the first Category 5 hurricane of the season, made landfall close to Matagorda, Texas, battering the coast with strong storm surges and torrential rain, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).
At least 11 people were killed and several buildings and electricity lines were toppled by the hurricane, which was predicted to swiftly weaken as it traveled inland and blasted over Jamaica, Grenada, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines last week.
According to early reports, one person in Texas died after a tree fell on a house, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez stated on social media on Monday.
The energy sector in Texas, the largest producer of natural gas and oil in the United States, prepared for Beryl’s effects as the strong storm forced the evacuation of certain production facilities and slowed down refining operations.
There are still dangerous storm surges and a lot of rain falling in certain parts of Texas. Strong gusts are heading inland and causing damage along the shore, said to the NHC, which also stated that Beryl’s power outage was now anticipated.
Residents in areas that were in its path had hurried to board up windows and stockpile gasoline and other necessities after receiving warnings that the storm may be fatal.
Television images showed cities and towns like Galveston, Sargent, Lake Jackson, and Freeport being battered by powerful winds and pouring rain before daylight.
Before reaching landfall, the storm had intensified into a Category 1 hurricane as it moved across the Gulf of Mexico’s warm waters, but the NHC predicted that it would now swiftly diminish.
“Beryl is projected to weaken to a tropical storm sometime tomorrow and to a tropical depression on Tuesday,” the National Hurricane Center stated. “Steady-to-rapid weakening is anticipated as the center moves inland.”
Usually, hurricanes get weaker as they approach land.
